Stronger
by ElejahMikaelson
Summary: 'That that don't kill me, can only make me stronger. I need you to hurry up now, cause I can't wait much longer…' Oneshot


_**Fandom/s: The Vampire Diaries**_

 _ **Title: Stronger**_

 _ **Description: That that don't kill me, can only make me stronger. I need you to hurry up now, cause I can't wait much longer…**_

 _ **Pairing/s: Elijah/Elena**_

 _ **Main Characters: Elena Gilbert and Elijah Mikaelson**_

 _ **Author: ElejahMikaelson**_

 _ **Disclaimer: I, sadly, do not own the vampire diaries, if I did, Elejah would have happened long ago and the Originals would never have left.**_

 **ooOoo**

Elijah froze upon hearing a quiet rustling coming from the hallway outside his bedroom and frowned. He finished pulling the dress shirt on and buttoned it quickly before silently stalking to the door – turning off his light along the way and grabbing his suit jacket. Two heartbeats were clearly audible from the hall (to him at least) and they definitely were not his siblings. He knew each of his sibling's heartbeats like the back of his hand and he would know if it were any of them, besides, they'd informed him that they would be out for the night.

One of the sets of footsteps passed his room (the pair with the quieter heartbeat - definitely a vampire), as Elijah shrugged on his jacket, while the other set hung back. It took Elijah only a short moment to recognise the louder – definitively human – heartbeat and, when he did, his heart plummeted to his stomach.

Elena.

She stopped just before his doorway and Elijah assumed she was having a silent conversation with the vampire (one of the Salvatores, he was sure). After a moment, the vampires footsteps disappeared, using their enhanced speed, and he heard Elena let out a disgruntled sigh before heading past his room.

In a split second, Elijah had pulled open his door; placed his hand over Elena's mouth and had pulled her into his room, closing the door behind her – all without a sound; her scream muffled to a quiet squeak behind his palm.

Elena flailed in his grasp until Elijah forced her to stand still by tightening his arms around her. After a short moment, he quickly turned her around at vampire speed and pressed her back firmly against the wall, making sure that his hand was still securely over her mouth. Realising that she couldn't see a thing in the darkness of his room, Elijah reached over and flicked on the overhead light.

Elena winced at the sudden flare of light and squinted her eyes for a moment until they adjusted to the brightness. When she could see again, she realised that it was Elijah in front of her and her tense body sagged, her eyes lighting up with relief before dimming slightly at the stern look his features had taken.

They both looked towards the door upon hearing Damon's soft calls of her name. Elijah took notice of Elena's heart rate speeding up and looked back at her. Her eyes were wide and she was looking at him pleadingly – silently imploring him not to hurt Damon.

Elijah raised an eyebrow and tapped the index finger of his free hand against his lips twice. Elena nodded quickly and Elijah eyed her for a moment longer before slowly taking his hand away from her mouth. They both stayed silent while Damon's calls grew quieter as he moved away. Elena waited in silence for the few moments until Elijah spoke quietly.

"What are you doing here, Elena?"

Elena shook her head softly and swallowed. "They know that you and your siblings are linked." Her words were a near silent whisper – Elena could hardly hear it herself – but she knew that Elijah had no trouble hearing her. "They found some white oak and made it into stakes. Somehow they found out that your siblings are all out of the house tonight. They came here to kill you, Elijah."

Elijah cursed to himself silently and pursed his lips, glancing towards the door before looking back at Elena. "How do I know that what you're telling me is the truth?"

Elena seemed to have some sort of inner debate before she slowly reached up and into her jacket pocket. She pulled out a white oak stake and glanced at it before looking back up at Elijah. He scoffed softly and ran his tongue over his teeth as he took a step back. The Original spread his arms slightly and met her eyes as she ran her hands nervously over the wood in her grasp.

"Well?" He said. "What are you waiting for? You came here to kill me, so go on and do it."

Elena looked to him in surprise before dropping her gaze to the wood in her hands. When she looked back at him, she saw that he had turned his back to her and was standing by his window, hands in the pockets of his slacks.

"I didn't come here to kill you, Elijah. I only agreed to come because I wanted to find you before they did – to warn you."

Elijah looked back at Elena then at the white oak stake in her hands and raised an eyebrow silently when he looked back to her. Without any hesitation, Elena held the stake out to him. Elijah walked closer to her and took the stake from her hands – his fingertips brushing her skin. His eyes searched her face for a moment before one corner of his lips quirked slightly and he smiled at her softly.

"Thank you, Elena, you have no reason to inform me of this; yet you have and for that I am eternally grateful."

Elena smiled softly at Elijah's words and he quirked his lips again in another small smile as he tucked the stake into one of the inner pockets of his suit jacket.

"Though, I cannot help but wonder, why did you decide to notify me tonight? I've done nothing to warrant your assistance."

Elena grimaced. That was the one question she'd been hoping to avoid, even though she knew it was inevitable. After a long moment, in which she didn't answer him, Elijah stepped closer – caging Elena against the wall when she stepped back. Elena took a shaky breath when she felt the Original's breath on her face and she felt her heart beat speed up as a pang of arousal hit her.

"Why did you tell me, Elena?"

Although the question implied that he was unaware, the small smirk curving his lips, and the knowing tone with which he spoke, made Elena certain that he knew exactly why she had chosen to save him. Elijah placed a palm on her cheek and slowly lowered his face to hers. He stopped a few centimetres away, leaving the choice to Elena.

She tilted her head up and tentatively caught his lips with her own. Elijah kissed her back just as softly, cupping her face gently with both of his large hands. Elena's arms slowly wound around his neck and she pulled him closer to her.

She jumped as droplet of water landed on her cheek and opened her eyes to find that the water was from Elijah's eye and wasn't a drop of water, but, in fact, a tear. A small, confused frown furrowed her brow when she realised he was crying. Just as she opened her mouth to ask what was wrong, she felt his hand undo the clasp on her vervain necklace and take it from around her neck. She shook her head, feeling her own eyes well with tears.

"No…no, Elijah, please…don't."

"I have to, Elena…" Another tear rolled down his cheek and he shook his head slowly. "I have to…you don't deserve this; you shouldn't care for me like you do."

Elena shook her head again, feeling her lips tremble as she tried not to cry. "Please…you can't…you can't take this away from me."

Elijah closed his eyes and took a shaky breath. Elena took advantage of his blindness, quickly rising up onto her toes and pressing her lips to his again. Rather than pulling away, like she expected from him, he kissed her back desperately. A tear slid down Elena's cheek and Elijah used the pad of his thumb to gently wipe it away.

Elijah rested his forehead on Elena's and he looked at her. Her eyes were still closed and another tear slid down her cheek.

"I…I love you, Elijah…please don't."

She finally opened her light brown eyes and met his. Elijah smiled softly and moved his thumb to wipe away the trail of salty water.

"And I love you, Elena. Which is why I must do this." He kissed away the tear that fell and caught her eyes once more, slipping the wooden stake from his jacket and into her pocket.

"You will forget what has happened between us tonight, your compassion urged you to come and warn me, but I was already gone…"

"You were already gone…" Elena repeated tonelessly.

"You don't love me." Elijah's voice broke and another tear slipped from his eye as he finished his compulsion.

"I don't love you." Elena murmured quietly, a tear managing to slide from her eye, even under his compulsion.

Elijah gently took her arms from around his neck; fastened the necklace back around Elena's throat and kissed her forehead softly before ghosting out of the room and leaving her behind.

When Elena came back from the compulsion, she looked around Elijah's room, sighing softly when she saw he was nowhere in sight. She brought a hand up to brush a piece of hair behind her ear, frowning when her finger touched a wet patch of skin.

Elena swept her finger over the skin, staring at the drop of water on her fingertip in confusion. Had she been crying?

She dismissed the thought after a moment; it obviously wasn't anything important enough for her to remember, right?

 **ooOoo**

 _Seven years later…_

Elena let out a quiet sigh as she stood from the bed and groggily wandered over to the window. It wasn't much of a view, but it was better than staring at the same dull, pale walls all the time.

"I was informed that you have been placed on bed rest."

Elena didn't turn at the sound of his voice, only grimaced and shrugged slightly. "I'm sick of staring at these same walls all the time." She swallowed thickly and shook her head. "I'm dying anyway, and I refuse to spend my last days confined to a bed."

Her voice was a quiet, weak murmur as she spoke and she leant her head against the window pane as she felt a wave of fatigue wash over her. Elena swayed on her feet and suddenly his arms were around her.

"Come on, let's get you back to bed."

If had been any other circumstance, Elena would refuse, but she was so exhausted that she just nodded wearily and let him guide her back to the hospital bed. He sat her on the edge before helping her move back so that she was led down.

Elijah affectionately brushed a piece of hair away from her eyes and smiled softly.

"What are you doing here, Elijah? I haven't seen you for over seven years, why come now?"

"Because I can't let you die, Elena, not when you don't know the truth."

Elena's brow furrowed and she stared at him in confusion as his fingers deftly unclasped her necklace.

"Elijah? What are you doing?"

Elijah caught her eyes in his hypnotising gaze and gently cupped one side of her face.

"You're going to remember what really happened when you came to warn me about your friends, seven years ago."

Elijah could see the exact moment that the memories hit her: her eyes grew wide and welled with tears as she stared at him sadly.

"You left me; you made me forget."

A tear slipped from Elena's eye and Elijah watched her sadly for a moment before gently pulling her into a hug. She weakly tried to pull away from him, but, after a moment, her energy dissipated and she fell against him, letting the Original embrace her.

"I'm so sorry, Elena. I didn't want to leave, but you deserved a chance to live a normal, _human_ life."

Elena scoffed softly. "And look where that's gotten me, I'm on my deathbed, Elijah. I'm 25 and I'm dying."

She pulled away from him suddenly and turned her face away as she launched into a fit of coughs. Elijah patted her back lightly until she stopped coughing and groaned quietly. The Original chewed his bottom lip for a moment as he hesitated – one of the only times he had ever done so in his long life – before speaking.

"That's why I'm here, Elena. I can help you, if you want."

She turned to look at him and raised an eyebrow. "You mean you can turn me. That's what you're really saying, right? Because we both know that vampire blood alone can't heal this."

Elijah cast his gaze to the plain bedspread and fingered the necklace chain still in his hand. He sighed softly before slowly looking back at her. "Yes, Elena, that is what I'm offering to you."

Elena shook her head softly and sighed, looking around the, dishearteningly plain, hospital suite she was in. After a moment she looked back at Elijah, he was watching her intently, subconsciously toying with the necklace chain in his grasp.

"Why?" They both knew that she wasn't asking about his offer of immortality. "I've spent seven years trying to figure out why I suddenly felt so empty after you left Mystic Falls. I knew something was missing, but I couldn't figure out what it was. You ruined my life, Elijah." At that he looked down guiltily and a muscle in his jaw ticked.

Elijah could smell her tears before he heard her sniffle quietly. When he looked up, she had turned her face away from him and he saw her bring a hand up and wipe at her cheeks. Elijah slowly reached out towards her and gently placed a hand on her knee.

"I truly am sorry, Elena. If I had known how much this would affect you…I never would have compelled you that night. It's by far the worst decision I've ever made."

"Then why did you do it?"

Elijah shrugged softly in response and squeezed her knee before withdrawing his hand all together and placing it back in his lap with his other hand.

"I wanted to give you a chance. I had hoped you'd be able to live a happy life, away from my influence. I wanted nothing more than for you to grow old and be happy, and, perhaps, fall in love with someone else; have children – no matter how much it would kill me inside. I don't deserve to be loved by you, so I took it away. And I shouldn't have done it, God knows I've regretted it every day since."

"And that's why you've come to offer me forever?" Elena scoffed quietly and shook her head softly. "Did you expect me to just…fall back into your arms after all this time, Elijah?"

Elijah instantly shook his head, his expression sad. "Of course not. I hope for a chance to begin making amends for what I did to you. All I want from you, should you choose to accept my offer, is a chance. If you decide you would rather live your life without me, then I will leave you in peace…and…you'll never have to see me again."

Elijah looked away when he finished speaking and he sighed softly, fingering the charm in his hands, ignoring the sting of vervain until Elena laid her hands over his.

"Stop it, please…"

Elena gently took her necklace from Elijah's burning hands – he let her, of course – and she placed it on the table beside her bed. Elijah refused to look at her until he felt her gently take his hands, then he finally looked up at her, in surprise and amazement.

She, on the other hand, cast her gaze to their joined hands as she gently ran her thumbs over the backs of his hands. There was a moment of hesitation before she softly spoke her request.

"I want to hear you say it, Elijah…I want to hear you say why."

Elijah gently extracted a hand from Elena's hold and placed it under her chin, applying a light pressure to get her to look up at him again. She met his eyes warily, and Elijah could see how much just continuing to live was wearing her out. There were darks rings under her eyes and her whole face was drawn and pale.

"Because I love you, Elena."

The brunette's eyes flicked over his face for a moment as she considered him before she swallowed and nodded wearily, moving her head away from his hand and resting it against his shoulder instead.

"Get me out of here…"

Elijah smoothly picked her up, careful not to jostle the fragile beauty in his arms as he carried her out of the hospital room. She was barely aware of his compelling of the staff at the front desk – telling them to erase all records of Elena ever being admitted and to forget that they had seen either of them.

Elena had fallen asleep in his arms whilst he was compelling the staff and Elijah was extra vigilant in his efforts to let her sleep as he left the building and walked to his car. The unconscious girl didn't stir as he carefully pulled open the passenger door and sat her on the cool leather. Nor did she stir during the entire journey to Elijah's house. She barely even moved. If Elijah hadn't been able to hear her quiet breaths and the soft beat of her heart, he would have worried that she had died where she sat.

When Elijah pulled the car to a stop, Elena was still asleep and the Original quietly exited the car, closing his door softly so that he wouldn't wake the slumbering girl. He quickly walked around to the other side of the car and opened the door before reaching over Elena and unbuckling her seatbelt.

She let out a quiet whine and shifted in her seat. Elijah shushed her and gently hooked an arm under her legs and behind her shoulders to enable him to lift her from the seat.

"-ere are we?" Elena murmured groggily, making Elijah smile fondly.

"We're at my home, Elena. You're going to be okay."

She smiled softly and nodded tiredly, burrowing into his chest as he carried her to the front porch, shifting her into one arm so that he could open the door.

Once they were inside and the door was closed, Elena moaned quietly and squirmed in his arms. Understanding her silent request, Elijah softly set her feet on the ground, keeping his arms around her waist until she was standing steadily. Only then, did he cautiously take his arms away from her – worried that she might topple over.

She tried for a smile, but it came off as more of a grimace.

Spotting a comfortable looking armchair, Elena carefully walked over to it, little by little, before falling back onto the soft cushions. Elijah moved over to her when she groaned softly and let her head fall against the chair back, closing her eyes.

"Elena?"

He gently placed a hand on her knee as he crouched in front of her. At his kind touch, Elena wearily opened her lead-like eyelids and tried to focus on him. After a moment, she finally managed to focus her eyes on the man in front of her and he smiled sadly.

"You're fading, I can sense it…" Elijah's voice was soft and sad as he spoke and Elena grimaced slightly.

"If you want to do this, we have to do it now."

Elena nodded tenderly and shifted to the edge of the seat, cupping one side of his face in her hand and watching him silently with soft eyes for a moment.

"How?"

Elijah didn't answer. Instead, he laid a hand over hers and squeezed before taking it off of his cheek and holding it. He took hold of her other hand and stood up, gently pulling her to her feet along with him.

Once they were both stood up, Elijah moved around and sat in the chair that Elena had occupied moments before, before gently tugging her down to sit on his lap. Her legs were over his and her side against his front.

She let her head fall onto his shoulder and her eyes slid shut again. Vaguely, she felt Elijah lean to the side as he picked a letter opener up off of the table. With one arm still wrapped around Elena's shoulders, he brought up his other hand to the side of Elena's face, careful not to nick her with the blade.

"Open your eyes, Elena."

It took her a moment, but she succeeded in opening them and was met with his neck as a view. Elijah took his hand from Elena's face to slice the sharp blade of the letter opener through the skin of his neck, before placing the blade on the table behind Elena. He moved his hand to the back of her head and gently guided her lips to the broken skin.

She let him move her to his neck and tentatively flicked her tongue out to taste his blood. Elijah stiffened under her before shivering slightly at the sensation of her lips closing over the cut on his neck. His arms tightened around her and a quiet groan sounded at the back of his throat. He'd never had any inclination to give anyone his blood so directly and the feelings being brought forward by her taking of his blood so intimately were unbelievable.

Elena moaned softly as she continued to slowly lap up his rich blood. It was like nothing she had ever tasted before and she could feel it slowly giving her some of her strength back – not enough to heal her, but enough that she could wrap an arm around the Original's shoulders and turn to straddle his legs.

When the cut in Elijah's neck healed, Elena swiped her tongue over the skin to catch the remainder of his blood. He shuddered again, pulling Elena firmly against him, causing a low whimper to sound in the brunette's throat.

She tore her lips away from Elijah's neck and crashed them onto his. He sighed softly and kissed her back, his hands knotting in her hair and holding her close. Their tongues tangled and they kissed for a few minutes before Elena pulled back ever so slightly, leaving her lips barely touching his.

"Make it quick…"

Elijah nodded slowly, gently pecking her lips once more and standing with her in front of him, wrapped in his arms. He placed his hands on either side of Elena's head and looked her in the eyes.

"Are you sure this is what you want, Elena?"

She nodded slowly, closing her eyes when she felt Elijah gently kiss her forehead and murmur softly against her skin.

"I'll see you soon."

A tear slipped free from her closed eye, a second before Elijah twisted his hands and quickly broke her neck, holding her up as she slumped against him.

 **ooOoo**

 _ **A/N: Drop a review and you'll get extra special presents from the man in the suit himself: Elijah Mikaelson!**_


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